One Last Artifact
by Maegmel
Summary: Partnership on the rocks, Mission gone awry, Partner on his deathbed. Myka's reflections.


One Last Artifact

A Warehouse 13 Fanfic

By: Elizabeth Cropsey

Chapter 1

Beige walls, fluorescent lights, sterile scents and the obnoxious ring of metal on metal as the curtain separating the patient from the outside world was opened. _I've been here too many times._

I looked anxiously at the Dr. Vanessa as she conversed in whispers with her civilian counterpart a middle-aged man who was balding and portly.

Artie gives my hand a reassuring pat, "If anyone can fix him up, it will be her Myka." I turn away from him and walk to the window which I stare out of blankly. _It is happening all over again. _

"Has Jane been notified?" I asked hoarsely wondering if his mother had been told yet.

Suddenly I felt a pair of piercing brown eyes staring into my head from behind, I whirled around to see Mrs. Fredrick. "No she has not, if we notified her of every time Agent Lattimer ended up in the hospital the poor woman would have a heart attack." Something inside me snapped.

"But this isn't the same as the rest!" I cried tears blurring my vision as I stamped my foot like a six-year-old.

"Why not?" Mrs. Fredrick asked with her intense gaze.

"Because, Because" I started, "he saved me again." I collapsed on the floor hugging my knees to my chest. _It's so much worse this time._

In rare form Mrs. Fredrick knelt down beside me, "What exactly did he save you from Agent Baring?" she intoned sternly. My throat was closing in on itself and I could barely see straight from the tears, no it wasn't an artifact affecting me, just my emotions. The bile rose from my stomach.

"We found Catherine de Medici's poison ring. The one that started the massacre of hundreds on St. Bartholomew's Day from her malice." I paused attempting to swallow, "Except that this artifact draws it's power from not just her malice but her desperation and lack of hope." Here I heard Artie gasp in the background as he grabbed for his notebook and started flipping through it furiously. "The person who touches it becomes desperate as their greatest fears seem to materialize and the poison not only kills the target but the user as well working on his lack of hope."

"Why didn't you neutralize it?" Mrs. Fredrick asked harshly.

"I tried everything, gooing, bagging, even the Tesla and destroying it. It killed the police officer who took it out of evidence and now it's killing Pete because he touched it too. He has no hope left." Threw the offending object inside it's silver bag across the floor in anguish. I gulped back a sob as I watched my partner who lay prostrate in his hospital bed with a fearful expression on his face.

Mrs. Fredrick drew in a sharp breath and motioned for Dr. Carlton and Artie she had a whispered conversation with them before disappearing. Artie pulled out his Farnsworth presumably to call Claudia about the ring. Dr. Carlton approached me carefully.

"Myka?" she said softly

"What?!" I snapped wheeling around to face her

"For any patient suffering from delusions or emotional distress, it is recommended that someone who they trust remain with them until they wake up." She motioned for me to sit down next to Pete. I slowly took my seat trying to stop my body from shaking uncontrollably. She gently placed my hand on top of his when I didn't resist her. "I'll make sure Jane is notified, what about Amanda though?" She whispers.

The selfish part of me doesn't even want to share Pete with his mother let alone his ex-wife, but I hear the words roll off my tongue, "Notify Amanda if he gets worse." Vanessa nods and leaves me to my thoughts and to my partner.

_Oh Pete! Why couldn't you just let me fend for myself? _His hand is cold and his pulse is barely noticeable. So different from the Pete I saw just this morning when he arrived with my favorite Starbucks coffee in hand.

"_Why so nice this morning Agent Lattimer?" I joked with him at the door of my hotel room._

"_It's chilly in upstate New York in November as you are soon to find out, besides, Starbucks has great cookies." He winked at me as he took a bite out of his little stash. "Meet you downstairs in the lobby when you're ready."_

Looking across at him now, his eyelids are twitching like someone having a terrible nightmare and his breath quickens.

_For once my intellect has failed me, my training cannot steel me against another loss. My heart is breaking all over again._ I see Sam laughing at me in my mind.

"_Bunny you failed again, you failed the one man who saved you."_


End file.
